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| author = [[Russell Kirk]] |
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| country = [[The United States]] |
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| language = [[English language|English]] |
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| genre = [[Political philosophy]] · [[Intellectual history]] |
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| publisher = [[Henry Regnery Company]] |
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| pub_date = 1953 |
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| pages = 448 |
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}} |
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{{Conservatism sidebar|works}} |
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'''''The Conservative Mind''''' is a 1953 book by American [[Conservatism|conservative]] political philosopher [[Russell Kirk]]. It traces the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition, giving special importance to the ideas of [[Edmund Burke]]. It is the published version of Kirk's doctoral dissertation and has gone into 7 editions, the later ones with the title ''The Conservative Mind: From Burke to [[T. S. Eliot|Eliot]]''. |
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The work is a classic in the tradition of conservatism. It influenced the postwar conservative movement in the U.S. and revived 20th century Burkean thought. It has been translated to a number of languages such as Bulgarian, Czech, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, and Portuguese.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Söderbaum |first=Jakob E:son |title=Modern konservatism: Filosofi, bärande idéer och inriktningar i Burkes efterföljd |date=2020 |publisher=Recito |isbn=978-91-7765-497-1 |location=Borås |pages=112}}</ref> |
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== Content == |
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In ''The Conservative Mind'', Kirk developed six "canons" of conservatism: |
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# A belief in a transcendent order, which Kirk described variously as based in tradition, [[divine revelation]], or [[natural law]]; |
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# An affection for the "variety and mystery" of human existence; |
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# A conviction that society requires orders and classes that emphasize "natural" distinctions; |
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# A belief that [[property]] and [[liberty|freedom]] are closely linked; |
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# A faith in custom, [[convention (norm)|convention]], and prescription, and |
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# A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.<ref>Russello, Gerald J., 1996, "The Jurisprudence of Russell Kirk," ''Modern Age'' 38: 354–363. {{ISSN|0026-7457}}.</ref> |
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In addition to bringing attention to Anglo-American conservative principles, Kirk described his perception of liberal ideals in the first chapter: the perfectibility of man, hostility towards tradition, rapid change in economic and political systems, and the secularization of government. Kirk also argued that the American Revolution was "a conservative reaction, in the English political tradition, against royal innovation".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kirkcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/API-Research-Kirk-The-Conservative-Mind.pdf |title=The Conservative Mind |date=2018 |website=kirkcenter.org |access-date=2019-06-18 |archive-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601211638/https://kirkcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/API-Research-Kirk-The-Conservative-Mind.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The work also draws attention to: |
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* Conservative statesmen such as [[John Adams]], [[Alexander Hamilton]], [[Fisher Ames]], [[George Canning]], [[John C. Calhoun]], [[John Randolph of Roanoke]], [[Joseph de Maistre]], [[Benjamin Disraeli]], and [[Arthur Balfour]]; |
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* The conservative implications of writings by well-known authors such as [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[Sir Walter Scott]], [[Alexis de Tocqueville]], [[James Fenimore Cooper]], [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]], [[James Russell Lowell]], [[George Gissing]], [[George Santayana]], [[Robert Frost]], and [[T. S. Eliot]]; |
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* British and American authors such as [[Fisher Ames]], [[John Randolph of Roanoke]], [[Orestes Brownson]], [[John Henry Newman]], [[Walter Bagehot]], [[Henry James Sumner Maine]], [[William Edward Hartpole Lecky]], [[Edwin Lawrence Godkin]], [[William Hurrell Mallock]], [[Leslie Stephen]], [[Albert Venn Dicey]], [[Robert Nisbet]], [[Paul Elmer More]], and [[Irving Babbitt]]. |
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''The Conservative Mind'' hardly mentions economics at all. Kirk grounded his Burkean conservatism in tradition, political philosophy, ''[[belles lettres]]'', and religious faith, rather than [[free market]] economic reasoning. |
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== Reception == |
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Many commentators have praised ''The Conservative Mind''. [[Whittaker Chambers]] called it the most important book of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Regnery |first=Alfred |date=2013-10-21 |title=The Opening of the Conservative Mind |url=https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2013/10/opening-conservative-mind-russell-kirk-alfred-regnery.html |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=The Imaginative Conservative |language=en-US}}</ref> [[James J. Kilpatrick]] called it "the best and clearest exposition of the conservative philosophy.” [[David Frum]] described it as follows: |
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{{blockquote|A profound critique of contemporary mass society, and a vivid and poetic image – not a program, an image – of how that society might better itself. […] in important respects, the twentieth century's own version of [Edmund Burke's] ''[[Reflections on the Revolution in France]]''. […] Kirk was an artist, a visionary, almost a prophet.<ref>Frum, David, “Russell Kirk,” ''The New Criterion'' (December 1994), 16</ref>}} |
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By tracing an intellectual heritage from Edmund Burke to the [[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]] in the early 1950s, ''The Conservative Mind'' challenged the notion among intellectuals that no coherent conservative tradition existed in the United States.<ref>Frohnen, Bruce; Beer, Jeremy & O. Nelson, Jeffrey (2006), ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia''. ISI Books, Wilmington, DE, pp. 186–188.</ref> |
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Biographer [[Bradley J. Birzer]] argues that for all his importance in inspiring the modern conservative movement, not many of his followers agreed with his unusual approach to the history of conservatism. As summarized by reviewer Drew Maciag: |
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:Kirk's understanding of conservatism was so unique, idiosyncratic, transcendental, elitist, and in certain respects premodern and European, that it bore little resemblance to political [[conservatism in the United States]]. ''Conservative Mind'' successfully launched an intellectual challenge to postwar [[Liberalism in the United States|liberalism]], but the variety of conservatism Kirk preferred found few takers, even within the American Right.<ref>Drew Maciag review of [[Bradley J. Birzer]], ''Russell Kirk: American Conservatism'' (2015) in ''The Journal of American History'' 103#4 (March 2017) p. 1096. {{doi|10.1093/jahist/jaw600}}</ref> |
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== Further reading == |
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* [[W. Wesley McDonald|McDonald, W. Wesley]], 1982. ''The Conservative Mind of Russell Kirk: `The Permanent Things' in an Age of Ideology''. Ph.D. dissertation, [[The Catholic University of America]]. Citation: DAI 1982 43(1): 255-A. DA8213740. Online at [[ProQuest]] Dissertations & Theses. |
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* McCleod, Aaron. ''Great Conservative Minds: A Condensation of Russell Kirk's "The Conservative Mind"'' (Alabama Policy Institute, 2005) 71pp; detailed page-by-page synopsis |
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* Person, Jr., James E., 1999. "Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind". Madison Books. |
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== See also == |
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* [[Edmund Burke]] |
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* [[Traditionalist conservatism]] |
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== References == |
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<references /> |
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== External links == |
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{{wikiquote|Russell_Kirk#The_Conservative_Mind:_From_Burke_to_Eliot_(1953)|The Conservative Mind}} |
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[[Category:Conservatism]] |
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[[Category:Conservatism in the United States]] |
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[[Category:Conservatism in the United Kingdom]] |
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[[Category:Books about politics of the United States]] |
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[[Category:Books by Russell Kirk]] |
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[[Category:1953 non-fiction books]] |
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Revision as of 18:54, 13 October 2023
| Author | Russell Kirk |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political philosophy · Intellectual history |
| Publisher | Henry Regnery Company |
Publication date | 1953 |
| Publication place | The United States |
| Pages | 448 |
| Part of a series on |
| Conservatism |
|---|
 |
The Conservative Mind is a 1953 book by American conservative political philosopher Russell Kirk. It traces the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition, giving special importance to the ideas of Edmund Burke. It is the published version of Kirk's doctoral dissertation and has gone into 7 editions, the later ones with the title The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot.
The work is a classic in the tradition of conservatism. It influenced the postwar conservative movement in the U.S. and revived 20th century Burkean thought. It has been translated to a number of languages such as Bulgarian, Czech, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, and Portuguese.[1]
Content
In The Conservative Mind, Kirk developed six "canons" of conservatism:
- A belief in a transcendent order, which Kirk described variously as based in tradition, divine revelation, or natural law;
- An affection for the "variety and mystery" of human existence;
- A conviction that society requires orders and classes that emphasize "natural" distinctions;
- A belief that property and freedom are closely linked;
- A faith in custom, convention, and prescription, and
- A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.[2]
In addition to bringing attention to Anglo-American conservative principles, Kirk described his perception of liberal ideals in the first chapter: the perfectibility of man, hostility towards tradition, rapid change in economic and political systems, and the secularization of government. Kirk also argued that the American Revolution was "a conservative reaction, in the English political tradition, against royal innovation".[3]
The work also draws attention to:
- Conservative statesmen such as John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Fisher Ames, George Canning, John C. Calhoun, John Randolph of Roanoke, Joseph de Maistre, Benjamin Disraeli, and Arthur Balfour;
- The conservative implications of writings by well-known authors such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, Alexis de Tocqueville, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Russell Lowell, George Gissing, George Santayana, Robert Frost, and T. S. Eliot;
- British and American authors such as Fisher Ames, John Randolph of Roanoke, Orestes Brownson, John Henry Newman, Walter Bagehot, Henry James Sumner Maine, William Edward Hartpole Lecky, Edwin Lawrence Godkin, William Hurrell Mallock, Leslie Stephen, Albert Venn Dicey, Robert Nisbet, Paul Elmer More, and Irving Babbitt.
The Conservative Mind hardly mentions economics at all. Kirk grounded his Burkean conservatism in tradition, political philosophy, belles lettres, and religious faith, rather than free market economic reasoning.
Reception
Many commentators have praised The Conservative Mind. Whittaker Chambers called it the most important book of the 20th century.[4] James J. Kilpatrick called it "the best and clearest exposition of the conservative philosophy.” David Frum described it as follows:
A profound critique of contemporary mass society, and a vivid and poetic image – not a program, an image – of how that society might better itself. […] in important respects, the twentieth century's own version of [Edmund Burke's] Reflections on the Revolution in France. […] Kirk was an artist, a visionary, almost a prophet.[5]
By tracing an intellectual heritage from Edmund Burke to the Old Right in the early 1950s, The Conservative Mind challenged the notion among intellectuals that no coherent conservative tradition existed in the United States.[6]
Biographer Bradley J. Birzer argues that for all his importance in inspiring the modern conservative movement, not many of his followers agreed with his unusual approach to the history of conservatism. As summarized by reviewer Drew Maciag:
- Kirk's understanding of conservatism was so unique, idiosyncratic, transcendental, elitist, and in certain respects premodern and European, that it bore little resemblance to political conservatism in the United States. Conservative Mind successfully launched an intellectual challenge to postwar liberalism, but the variety of conservatism Kirk preferred found few takers, even within the American Right.[7]
Further reading
- McDonald, W. Wesley, 1982. The Conservative Mind of Russell Kirk: `The Permanent Things' in an Age of Ideology. Ph.D. dissertation, The Catholic University of America. Citation: DAI 1982 43(1): 255-A. DA8213740. Online at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
- McCleod, Aaron. Great Conservative Minds: A Condensation of Russell Kirk's "The Conservative Mind" (Alabama Policy Institute, 2005) 71pp; detailed page-by-page synopsis
- Person, Jr., James E., 1999. "Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind". Madison Books.
See also
References
- ^ Söderbaum, Jakob E:son (2020). Modern konservatism: Filosofi, bärande idéer och inriktningar i Burkes efterföljd. Borås: Recito. p. 112. ISBN 978-91-7765-497-1.
- ^ Russello, Gerald J., 1996, "The Jurisprudence of Russell Kirk," Modern Age 38: 354–363. ISSN 0026-7457.
- ^ "The Conservative Mind" (PDF). kirkcenter.org. 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 1, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
- ^ Regnery, Alfred (2013-10-21). "The Opening of the Conservative Mind". The Imaginative Conservative. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ^ Frum, David, “Russell Kirk,” The New Criterion (December 1994), 16
- ^ Frohnen, Bruce; Beer, Jeremy & O. Nelson, Jeffrey (2006), American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. ISI Books, Wilmington, DE, pp. 186–188.
- ^ Drew Maciag review of Bradley J. Birzer, Russell Kirk: American Conservatism (2015) in The Journal of American History 103#4 (March 2017) p. 1096. doi:10.1093/jahist/jaw600
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to The Conservative Mind.